For this, it’s 9th season, the PBS hit “Grantchester” is shaking things up.

The series has always been an oddly intriguing mix. Weekly murders are solved in Grantchester, a small fictional town near Cambridge, by local police inspector Geordie Keating (producer and star Robson Green) who’s teamed in an odd couple arrangement with the local vicar.

As a smorgasbord of societal issues – racism, homophobia, misogyny and intolerance – and distinctive characters – atheist cop, gay priest expelled from Christian ministry, a bigoted housekeeper, a portrait of 1961 England emerges.

With tonight’s third episode, a new vicar arrives to upset not just residents but, crucially, Geordie, a Sherlock suddenly without his Watson.

New vicar Alphy Kotteram (Rishi Nair) appears in a sporty red Triumph convertible, a vivid contrast to departing married dad Reverend Will Davenport (Tom Brittney). Whether he’s breaking into the vicarage because he’s misplaced his key or taking a swim and causing a commotion with his six pack abs, this is a new kind of cleric.

“I’ll be quite different because he’s from London, from working class. And obviously, with an Indian background” Nair, 33, acknowledged in a Zoom interview from London.

“We don’t know much about him. He keeps his cards quite close to his chest. Quite a cheeky choppy.”

Cheeky choppy?

“It’s a UK term. Let’s just say a happy go lucky guy who describes himself as a glass half full kind of guy. He uses his charm to get himself out of sticky situations. But there is another side we see as the season progresses where he doesn’t shy away if he finds people abusing their power.”

Intriguingly, Alphy has issues with the police. “Probably because of experiences he’s had growing up in the 50s, a brown man in Britain.

“He has preconceptions about what the police is — and he puts Geordie in that category as well. As the season progresses, he recognizes Geordie for who he actually is.

“He starts to see a lot more similarities in Geordie to himself and recognizes that they’re actually quite similar. What they want is not too different.”

James Norton, the series’ first vicar, struggled as an alcoholic with sexual issues. That was never an issue with his successor. Where is sex, love and happiness on Alphy’s scale?

“In terms of sex, he’s very open to being quite free. He’s a young vicar who has a couple of love interests this season.  In terms of love and those relationships, he has a real issue with commitment.

“Why that is, we don’t quite know yet. It will be revealed, probably more in Season 10.”

“Grantchester” airs June 30 on PBS